


In the Rain

by State_of_Dreaming



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Adoption, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Canon Disabled Character, Can’t believe that’s not a tag, Crossover, Disabled Character, Father-Daughter Relationship, Found Family, Gordy is a Blupjeans kid, If you ignore the crossover concept, Light Angst, My man Gordy needs his own tag, Other, Rainer is a Blupjeans grandkid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:22:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26835880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/State_of_Dreaming/pseuds/State_of_Dreaming
Summary: SPOILER FOR TAZ GRADUATION EP 25: BURDEN OF THINGSGordy meets Rainer for the first time.
Relationships: Gordy & Rainer (The Adventure Zone)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	In the Rain

**Author's Note:**

> This is dedicated to those in the TAZ discord server who collectively agreed Travis was a mastermind and purposefully set up a backstory for Gordy that could fit him into the Balance canonverse as a possible Blupjeans kid so us fans could still have our fun.
> 
> Since neither Kravitz, nor Gordy have detailed origin stories for how they became powerful half-dead guys and I wanted to connect them, I have created a sort of necromancer/lich/Grim Reaper cycle system. You do not need to understand it to read this fic, but if you want to, here are the basics: Every some undetermined number of years, there is a child born at random with the inherent power to see/communicate with the dead and pass through the astral plane. The Raven Queen was the first Grim Reaper and has set up this system throughout all worlds in the Balance/Graduation plane of existence. These children usually pop up on the Raven Queen’s radar and she sends the current Grim Reaper (or in Gordy’s case, the Grim Reaper’s second-in-commands Barry and Lup) to find their successor. These children are then taught by their predecessor (and sometimes other liches or the Raven Queen herself) everything they need to know about necromancy and reaping. They also tend to become liches at young ages. The relationship between successor and predecessor ranges from a mentor-student one like that of Kravitz and his predecessor who I am still creating in my head, to a parent-child one like that of Gordy and Rainer.

It was raining when Gordy arrived at the police station. The storm began as a light drizzle but by the time he got to his destination, buckets of water were pouring from the overcast sky. He was drenched to the bone (no pun intended) by the time he reached the door.

Gordy hadn’t been on Nua for very long when Kravitz paid him a visit with the news that the next continuation of the cycle had been reported nearby. His uncle had called it an odd coincidence that they were found so close to Gordy’s new home. Gordy was just happy he could stay in Nua. He liked it there so far.

Little information was passed on to Gordy as to who he was looking for. He only knew the child was a girl whose house tragically burned down, killing her parents in the process. Hence why he got to the police station as soon as possible. He could only imagine what kind of state the poor girl was in.

Gordy entered the police station and walked up to the front desk, moving his hands inside his pockets and causing a ripple effect across the fabric of his jacket to shake off any loose raindrops. He was greeted with a grunt from the orc behind the bureau who looked rather annoyed at the growing puddle of water now on the floor. Gordy smiled apologetically.

Not acknowledging his smile, the officer begrudgingly picked up a clipboard and pen, hand poised to write as she addressed the man in front of her without looking at him. “Name?”

“Gordon Taaco.”

Her eyes flicked up from her paperwork. “Are you the one here for the girl?” Gordy simply nodded in reply.

The orc studied him for a moment before abandoning the clipboard on her desk and stepping out from behind it. She headed towards a door, beckoning Gordy to follow with a lazy hand.

They walked in silence down a long hallway until the orc stopped and opened the door to what appeared to be an interrogation room and stepped back to let Gordy enter.

Inside was the thin girl. She was quite young, seven or eight if Gordy had to guess. She was sitting in a rickety old wheelchair and wore a shabby dress that used to be pink. Her hair was long and blonde, tumbling over her shoulders and hiding her face as she looked down at her lap where she was picking at her fingers. When Gordy stepped inside, the girl looked up at him, a pair of bright blue eyes slicing through the blonde waterfall of hair. He couldn’t help but think of his mother and Uncle Taako’s similar blonde locks and mistier grey eyes that he was so used to. He smiled kindly at her.

“Hello.” Gordy said softly, waiting to see if the girl would respond. When she said nothing in return, he continued introducing himself. “My name is Gordy.”

Still no response.

Gordy glanced over his shoulder to make sure the police officer was gone before walking closer to the girl. He noticed her frail body pressing farther into the back of the chair as he approached. In an attempt to ease her fear, Gordy quickly knelt in front of the wheelchair just like his mom did in front of him all those years ago. The last thing he wanted this girl to feel was threatened.

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

She seemed to relax a bit at the reassuring words and the height she now had over him, but her large eyes still sparkled with fear and tears, occasionally glancing around the room before focusing on him again.

“You see them too, don’t you?” Gordy didn’t have to specify. The girl nodded her head, eyes still trained on his.

“Don’t worry,” he said, reaching a hand slowly towards her knee. He gave her ample time to pull away, but she didn’t, allowing him to rest his firm hand on her knee. She was freezing cold to the touch even through the dress’ thin fabric and Gordy knew the first thing he was going to do after this was find her a blanket. “I can see them too.”

She relaxed some more at that. Gordy knew there was no way the girl could fully trust him yet, but maybe she could trust him enough to give him some information.

“What’s your name?” He asked gently.

She didn’t answer for a moment, but Gordy didn’t push her. He waited patiently until she finally spoke:

“Rainer.”

Her voice was meek and shaking slightly, but underneath the nerves, Gordy could hear a melody. He knew immediately, after only one word, her voice was the kind that made words sound like poetry and laughter like music.

“Rainer,” Gordy repeated thoughtfully. He glanced towards the barred window at the storm raging around them, taking a moment to let the pattering of rain fill the silence. Then he looked back at her with a smile. “What a coincidence.”

One corner of Rainer’s lips tugged into a lopsided grin and Gordy could feel his heart melt in his chest. He’d never seen something so beautiful and with that thought came a sudden surge of protectiveness. He knew in that moment that he’d do anything and everything in his power to keep that smile on her face for the rest of his life.

“I’m here to help.” He finally said, hoping she now felt comfortable enough to talk to him a bit more.

“Are you going to bring back mommy and daddy?” Rainer asked hopefully. Gordy’s smile faded and he shook his head sadly, heart aching with the longing to lie, to promise her not only her parents but the whole world.

“I’m sorry, Rainer, I can’t do that.” He paused, waiting for her to cry or yell or do something, anything. He wouldn’t blame her if she did. But instead, her eyes just looked back down to her lap in a sort of resigned acceptance he’d never seen from someone of such a young age before. Not even himself. Gordy’s heart, so full of love only moments before, shattered. He wanted to make her smile again.

“But I can get you out of here,” he promised with conviction. He squeezed her knee slightly and Rainer looked up, meeting his eyes again. “I can give you a home and keep you safe. And I can promise, nothing bad will happen to you ever again Rainer. Not on my watch.”

“Really?” she whispered.

Gordy nodded. “Really.” He smiled again. Rainer didn’t. But he could’ve sworn he saw a new light in her ocean eyes, a new flicker of hope.

That was enough for now.

**Author's Note:**

> Ngl, I’m pretty proud of this considering a wrote it in under 24 hours.
> 
> If you enjoyed this fic, please leave me a comment! They make my day :)
> 
> This is actually a one-shot sequel (I have a tendency to write backwards) to the multi-chapter fic I hope to start sharing that explores a bit of Gordy’s life as a Blupjeans kid and an apprentice Grim Reaper so if you liked this, keep a look out for that!
> 
> Edit: I am now a cosplayer!! You can find me on tiktok at @izzib4


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